Why You Should Never Choose the Cheapest Home Builder

You usually get what you pay for. Meaning, the home you move into is twice removed from the quality and comfort you had envisioned. While you may talk to several builders and compare quotes, settling for the cheapest one of them may cost you dearly.

Before you go scouting for a home builder that fits your needs and budget, there are a few things to remember:

The builder does not understand the business.

One of the reasons why a business is charging less is that they don’t quite know how to run it. They are just going from one client to another and making some money on the way. They may be new or inexperienced and lack proper industry knowledge, resources, and networks to make everything work. All these reflect on the home they build. Your house, when constructed by such a builder, will possess glaring shortcomings.

They are compromising on quality.

Does cheap equal low quality? In the home construction industry, yes.

An experienced builder would tell you that a cost-effective building contract usually favors the builder, not the client. Nine out of ten times, you will catch them using second-rate material or installing faulty fixtures. They are quite the pros at cutting corners. What you have is a builder who looks at your money as a get-rich scheme and doesn’t care about quality or safety standards.

What you may be saddled with is an unsafe house that needs frequent repair and maintenance from the start.

They don’t intend to keep communication lines open.

Any reliable builder, big or small, would be eager to maintain transparency in their dealings. One of the concerns with a cheap construction company is their reluctance to have clear communication. They may ignore your calls, emails, and messages. They may be hesitant to explain the different aspects of home building, which is discomfort if you wish to talk to their past clients and care about sharing with you regular updates.

They do not have the financial backing.

Because they do not have the necessary funds, budget builders will always try to get the money out of you. In worst cases, they may fail to compensate their subcontractors, often forcing you to make the leftover payments. They may be unable to obtain local permits as they are cash-strapped, and this stalls the project. All their focus goes into getting the client to meet their expenses.

They are not accountable.

It is rare for a cheap builder to be answerable. In most cases, since they do not have a sense of responsibility- they make excuses. For instance, you may never see the calendar for the stages of construction. They might not report slip-ups or be proactive in solving them. Their explanations are unsatisfactory.

Their goals conflict with yours.

When you invest in a house, you are investing in your dream. You want the finest that your budget can accommodate. But your builder has other goals in mind. A cost-effective contractor is looking to pay off debts. Their objective is to gain through variations and claims. Some amount of variation is permissible, even typical, in homebuilding. But a low-priced builder will manipulate the terms to further their interests.

They do not have sufficient facts to suggest a quote.

A builder can’t state an estimate without the technical stuff. They require maps, survey reports, and landscape checks. Ensure you have done the groundwork before hiring a builder and setting them to work with half knowledge.

All in all, new homeowners are advised to hire a builder who offers a realistic quote, factoring in the project’s demands.